Carmen Ledding, the program director with the Canadian Mental Health Association in Rosetown is leading the charge against a tough topic, mental health in agriculture. On February 26 she will be teaching mental health first aid in Eston, which is described by the mental health commission of Canada “as physical first aid is administered to an injured person before medical treatment can be obtained, mental health first aid is given until appropriate treatment is found or until the crisis is resolved.”
With the growing of farms and the weight of the financial burden of running this type of business, Carmen has noticed a common concern among producers.
“A lot of the issues that I've heard is the stress surrounding what do we do with the family farm” Ledding said in the interview.
Another concern relating to the growing size of farms themselves is the isolation of farmers and their families from not just community but from much needed resources. Ledding states “People become further and further isolated because of bigger farms, they are further removed from services.”
This and much more is why Carmen Ledding is leading this training session. On Talk Ask Listen’s registry page it explains that “1 in 4 Canadians will experience a mental health problem at some point in their life. 1 in 8 jobs in Canada are related to Agriculture yet producers are lacking resources related to mental heath.”
Ledding makes it clear that “We need to talk about these things so people can get help.”
Poster via Carmen Ledding
Wed, Jul 17, 7:30 PM
